A woman was hit by an underage Tallahassee drunk driver 5 years ago. Now, her family is suing the bar.

Nada Hassanein
Tallahassee Democrat
Jacquelyn "Jackie" Faircloth.

An exuberant cheerleader, avid swimmer and volunteer, Jacquelyn “Jackie” Faircloth was a Tampa high school star. On mission trips she helped tornado survivors clear debris, mentored her freshmen peers and volunteered at the Holocaust museum.

But the athlete’s bright, full life was all over on Nov. 29, 2014.

Around 2 a.m., an underage drunk driver speeding down Pensacola Street hit Jackie as she stepped off the curb to cross the street. He fled the scene.

An innocent trip to Tallahassee to visit her FSU freshman brother and enjoy a football game ended in the woman suffering a catastrophic brain injury that left her permanently disabled.

She cannot walk or talk, breathes and eats through a tube and has seizures. Now 22, she spends her days in an assisted living facility.

Today, on the first day of a trial resulting from a civil suit filed by her family, a jury will hear arguments on whether alcohol served to the minor played a role in the tragedy. A mistrial was declared in a February hearing when a jury couldn't reach a verdict, leading to this week's trial at the Leon County Courthouse.

Jackie's family have sued Potbelly's, the busy local bar popular among FSU students, for negligence. Court documents say bar tabs reflect that Potbelly’s served the 20-year-old driver and bar employee Devon Dwyer a copious amount of drinks — 18 Bud Lights and six bourbons over the course of four hours — before he hit the road.

Attorneys representing Potbelly's did not return requests for comment on Friday.

Also named in the lawsuit is Potbelly's parent company Main Street Entertainment, 101 Management Group and 101 International Investment Group. The family is also suing defaulted and now-shuttered Cantina 101 Restaurant and Tequila Bar, which served alcohol to an also underage Jackie. 

Jackie Faircloth.

Potbelly's maintains its establishment and its management are not liable for Jackie’s injuries.

“Before this event, Jackie was an amazing young lady; smart, beautiful, full of life, and always concerned about others,” read a memo filed on her family's behalf by attorney Donald Hinkle.

Jackie is aware of her surroundings but struggles to communicate. She passes time playing games using a digital device.

“The family is in a routine — dealing with a daughter living in an assisted living facility,” Hinkle told the Democrat. “It’s a struggle. “Everybody hopes, and everybody prays. But it's horrible.”

The 2014 crash unfolded in minutes.

The day after celebrating Thanksgiving, Jackie arrived with her family in Tallahassee. Her parents stayed at a hotel, and she stayed in a friend’s dorm where her brother JT Faircloth also lived.

Around 10 p.m. that Friday night, Jackie and her friend headed to Cantina, a short walk away from the dorm.

The then-18-year-old high school senior was given a 21-and-over band and did not carry a fake ID, just her vertical driver's license, the lawsuit asserted. She drank until later that night, when she vomited in the bar's restroom and texted her cousin Katie Faircloth to come help her. Together they left to walk back to the dorm, at about 2 a.m.

Her brother JT and his friend were also walking back to the dorm. Jackie spotted him on the other side of Pensacola Street, and began to cross the street.

JT hollered at his sister to get out of the road. Meanwhile, Dwyer was driving down the right-hand lane and didn’t slow or take any evasive action, the lawsuit said.

After Dwyer struck Jackie, he fled. He later hid his car at a Cactus Street residence about three miles away from the scene.

Dwyer denies he was intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to court documents. He said he was a heavyweight and didn’t drink all the beverages he paid for that night.

Despite streetlights, Dwyer said he never saw Jackie on the road before striking her. Police records say Dwyer repeated to his passenger, a friend and bartender, that the young woman had stepped in front of his car.

Dwyer was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges of a hit-and-run resulting in serious injury. He’s now under community supervision for another eight years, Florida Department of Corrections records showed.

“Two corporations served underage patrons and one went to prison and the other one is a prisoner of her disabilities,” Hinkle said. "It’s very serious because these bars serve these kids ... There’s a reason it’s illegal. There’s a reason it’s a crime — and this is why."

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Jackie Faircloth's age.

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.